Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes are generally adored by all but the thought of adding that much red food colouring (up to 2 tbsp!) makes me a little nervous. So, I went in search of a natural red food dye and did not come up with anything in my local city except beet root powder. The batter turned out a nice deep red color but once baked the cupcakes turned a light brown due to the reaction of the beet root while baking. So while you were eating them you were envisioning eating a chocolate cupcake and not a red velvet cupcake and it didn’t quite add up.

So, I decided to make them with red food colouring. (Adding 3 tbsp of cocoa powder helps darken the red without adding the usual amount of food dye.) I may make another attempt with the beet root powder or real beets down the road after some more research. It is not like I will be making these every week anyway so this will only be a very rare treat. This eggless recipe works great!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Mix together:

2 cups flour

1 and 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

Then mix together wet ingredients and add to dry and mix together really well with a stand or electric mixer.

3/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt

3/4 cup milk mixed with 3 tsp vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 tsp vanilla

Then add in red food colouring as desired and mix well. The food colouring you use, gel or liquid. varies in the amount required.

You can add less cocoa powder if you don’t want a reddish brown colour. 1 and 1/2 or 2 tbsp will take out some of the brown colour. Since I have written this recipe I have switched to Wilton Intense food colouring, so I use a lot less than the liquid food colouring this recipe was originally written with. I have edited the recipe to reflect that.